That could be true here; the screengrab provided by Getty came from a study of the America First movement by the scholar Wayne S. This was the only proximate evidence that the occasion was a flag salute—though, of course, what it also confirms is the very ambiguity of the gesture at the time.
A little additional context. I am absolutely certain that Lindbergh foresees a new party along Nazi lines. Two things, I considered, may be possible at once: Wheeler may have been giving a Bellamy salute in good faith, while Lindbergh was giving it in bad faith, knowing that his true supporters would understand exactly what allegiance he intended.
In deciding to write about my concerns about this caption, I pressed Getty for official comment. She agreed to look into the matter—and came back with evidence that disputed not only the defense that the speakers were delivering a Bellamy salute, but also the date of the photograph itself.
As she elucidated, together with archive images she supplied:. First, semantic confusion appears to have arisen over what was meant by a Bellamy salute. Most of these articles report the salutes as words recited to the flag without reference to any hand gesture at all.
As for the photograph itself, Getty has it dated incorrectly. Although Wheeler and Lindbergh did appear at an America First Committee rally on October 30, , Kathleen Norris did not join them, and photographs taken at that rally and published at the time show Wheeler in unmistakably different dress: at the later rally, he wears a dark suit and necktie, not a white summer suit with bowtie as seen in the Getty image.
Wheeler wore that white suit, appropriately, not in the autumn, but in the spring, at an AFC rally that took place on May 23, ; this was the occasion attended also by Norris. Again, contemporary newspaper photographs like the one below make clear that the Getty photograph comes from this rally.
Clipping from the Minneapolis Star newspaper, May 24, That they were saluting the American flag is not in question, but in the outcry and controversy that followed the wide circulation of this image in newspapers over the next few weeks, I cannot find a single voice defending Wheeler or Lindbergh on the basis that they were simply delivering a Bellamy salute. Quite the reverse. The conclusion is inescapable, therefore, that Isolationists [sic] Wheeler, Lindbergh, Mrs.
Norris and Thomas did not give the public school salute but a gesture much closer to the Nazi salute. In light of this, I hope that Getty Images will correct its caption again, and also review its process for dealing with disputed information.
Best of The New York Review, plus books, events, and other items of interest. Matt Seaton is Editor of nybooks. Read Next. The full history was even more inspiring. Analogy and disanalogy with the past can assist in analyzing our present, but not if they allow indulging in a melodramatic righteousness, and luxuriating in our fears, all while preparing a terrifyingly normal future. We now have a President we can admire and respect.
But he seems unaware that his opponents are not patriots anxious to help govern through a decent consensus but fanatics who would destroy the country if that would lead to his defeat. We think he should understand that this is…. Here is a map of Afghanistan. Versions of it adorn conference rooms in military bases, ministry buildings and NGO headquarters.
News about upcoming issues, contributors, special events, online features, and more. He most likely saw such a salute on the internet or somewhere else and did it, without knowing what it means," he said. Nevertheless, the country's football federation said the midfielder's gesture insulted all victims of the Nazis and banned him from playing for the Greek national team for life.
He was heavily criticised by political parties on Twitter and Facebook and later issued a statement apologising. Katidis reiterated that he did not know what he was doing, but said that was no excuse. But is it really possible for young people in Europe today not to know the meaning of such gestures? In Greece, the leader of the Golden Dawn far-right nationalist party has been shown making Nazi salutes at party rallies. Last year it won a number of seats in parliament, on a wave of public anger against austerity and immigration, and disillusionment with mainstream politicians.
Members who use the arm-outstretched, flat palm, gesture, argue they are employing the "Roman salute". They also like it because it is against foreigners. But some of those who are drawn to the party's symbolism have no idea what it all means - even the salute, says Michaelides. He says that while World War II is studied by school children, some just don't seem to take it in.
But Matthew Goodwin, associate professor of politics at the University of Nottingham, and a specialist in political extremism, thinks that it is inconceivable that young Europeans could be entirely ignorant of the associations of neo-Nazi symbolism. Many parties on the fringes of European politics employ elements of neo-Nazi symbolism, he says, although they present it as something else to stay on the right side of the law. In particular, those groups have managed to infiltrate sport in countries such as Germany, Austria, Italy and the UK.
It's obvious what they represent.
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